Creativity, Craft and Care
It’s what your favorite restaurants and bars deliver every day and why you love them.
From June 6-15, we are celebrating what makes dining out special.
Your favorite restaurants are peeling back the curtain to showcase their providers, techniques, and
creativity and showcase a little of what makes them special.
Five states, more than 500 restaurants, there’s something for everyone.
It all begins with an idea.
Last year, we were researching the history of Lyon France in preparation for a trip there. It’s been the culinary center of Europe, if not the world for centuries.
It was also the birthplace of the farm to table movement, created by a group of women called “Les Meres”, the mothers. They have been around for centuries but really came into their own at the start of World War One.
These women worked as cooks in the households of wealthy families in the area. When the war started the wealthy families left, leaving their cooks behind.
The women needed to feed their families, so they opened brasseries, local restaurants focused on using providers they knew, making simple dishes, and creating a hospitable environment.
This was the birth of the farm to table movement. While some restaurants identify themselves as farm to table, we realized that most of the restaurants and bars we love are very purposeful in selecting their vendors.
They may not call themselves farm to table, but they care deeply about the standard of food and beverage that they serve. They choose their providers with great care and showcase the ingredients they grow or make in their creations. We wanted to celebrate this care, along with the creativity and craft that they provide when they invite us into their spaces.
This was the idea behind Grown in the Ground- a celebration of everything we love about restaurants and bars we go to, places where chefs and bartenders invite us into their hearts.
Restaurants, bars and retailers will have special dinners, drinks, seminars and other events that reveal what makes them special. We are excited to share these with you and celebrate the fun we have when we go out.
Craft
Properly diluting a cocktail. Stir frying vegetables to crisp, but not soggy or burnt. Releasing the oils in an orange peel. Making a creamy risotto.
Years of education, practice and training go into the craft of bartending or cooking. In addition to schooling many chefs and bartenders have specialized equipment, and have honed their techniques for years. If you have ever tried to stir fry vegetables at home, you understand how complicated this is.
Creativity
Whether you live in Boston, Seattle, Chicago or a smaller place like Spokane or Worcester, you have favorite places that make your favorite dishes, welcome you into a second home, and treat you to a great experience.
Creativity is an overlooked area of going out. During the pandemic many of us spent time at home learning new recipes for food and cocktails. It can be fairly straightforward to master a basic recipe at home, but what chefs and bartenders do is combine flavors in new ways that we wouldn’t think of. This creativity creates flavor trails, new experiences!
Care
Bartender. Chef. Server. Host. Lights. Chair. Table. Music.
So much goes into your experience. The details matter. Every moment of your experience is considered.
2025 is the first year of a big dream. We want to celebrate the food and beverage of the United States in a festival. Our hope is that this event gets us all talking about things like terroir or palate. And ultimately helps us all realize what we love about dining and drinking out!
— Grown in the Ground